Chairman Michael Gallagher has appointed Chairman-Elect Mitch Glaeser to lead a search committee to elect a new president and CEO. The search process is expected to take about 90 to 120 days.

“I have no doubt that our outstanding staff will continue the momentum and that we will find a dynamic new leader for the Chamber,” Gallagher said in a news release.

Chamber Vice President and COO Sonia Douglas will serve as the interim president and CEO following Christensen’s departure. Christensen is leaving to become the executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, a statewide economic development team with 300 employees.

This year, more than 70 businesses will be attending. The showcase is open to the public and 300 visitors are expected—all of who will be vying for a door prize (all business must donate something of $50 or more value).

The Innovation Room will make an appearance for the third time at this year’s Showcase as well. The room will encompass some of Gainesville’s startup companies and give a glimpse into Innovation Gainesville—the organization that assists with new innovative businesses.

Mike Cushing, the communications and research manager for the Chamber, shared the best ways for businesses and visitors at the Showcase to get the most out of their time.

“Businesses should bring something to give away; something that’s useful but will also grab people’s attention,” Cushing says. Coozies, pens or potholders are examples of useful and promotional props. “In the same way, booths should be engaging and share what a business does. Stay away from anything too flashy.

“Anything that makes people work too hard to understand the business is counterproductive.”

Still—don’t leave your business’ booth to the last minute. The “Best of Show” award will be given to the organization with the highest score, based on innovation and originality; content and substance; and presentation. Last year the award was given to A Candies Limousine CEO Sander Kaplan.

The point of the Showcase is to make a connection; both visitors and businesses that are tabling at the event should be interested in establishing a relationship and networking—with other visitors and businesses around them, he says.

“Visitors should get there early and not be in a hurry,” Cushing suggests. “Take the time to meet people. Making conversation, being interested and courteous go much farther than trying to sell your business.” Other tips? Pick up business cards at every table you visit and make notes about the individuals you meet to help jog your memory when you call later.

Both businesses that are promoting and people who are visiting should look around and makes connections, advises Cushing. “Stop at every booth. You never know what hidden treasure you’ll find.”

The Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce has a webpage with a listing of the businesses planning to attend the Showcase, as well as a floor plan to plan your route. Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, are being used to share the Showcase as well. Tag your business and tag others as a way to promote the event and local business.

Setup of the event is planned for 12 to 3pm and vendors get their own preview from 3 to 4pm. The event is open to the public from 4 to 7pm. Tickets are $12.

The 9th Annual Celebration of Biotechnology will be Thursday, May 10th, from 9:30am to 1pm on the RTI Biologics campus of Progress Park in nearby Alachua. (Progress Park is home to many start-ups that were the result of technology developed at UF.)

The outdoor event will have food vendors, an art-inspired science display, a bus tour of the park, networking opportunities (in the Gallery of Biotech) and more than 70 scientific and other vendors showcasing products and services in the biotechnology field. Visitors will have the chance to meet and interact with the largest cluster of biotech companies in the state of Florida.

The event is hosted by BioFlorida, the statewide bioscience industry trade association. BioFlorida represents more than 3,000 companies and research organizations in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device fields that employ 61,000 Floridians. The event is free and open to the public.

Head brewer Craig Birkmaier brought his palette, developed from world travels, to home brewing before developing the Swamp Head recipes. (Photo by Caitlyn Finnegan)

There’s something to be said about the power of a tall glass of beer. From the first time Luke Kemper took a swig of craft beer, he was hooked on the flavor and the possibilities of brewing his own. So when he wrapped up studying business and environmental science at the University of Colorado in 2005, he came back to settle in his hometown and bring the craft beer craze to Hogtown.

Kemper’s Swamp Head Brewery is the first brewery to set up operation in Gainesville. It sent out its first keg in 2009 and hasn’t stopped rolling out new beers since. What started as a two-man operation brewing a couple days a week has rocketed to a seven-person team with a brewing schedule that runs every day at their location north of Archer Road at 3140 SW 42nd Way.

The brewery stays busy with five year-round beers and more than 15 seasonal and limited-release varieties. No matter the style, brewers like to give each beer a hint of Floridian charm through a clever name or native ingredient. Beer drinkers have taken notice; you can find Swamp Head logos in bars and brewpubs from Tallahassee to Fort Myers.

One thing that hasn’t bent from the pressure of production is the creativity of the brews. Step up to the bar in the Wetlands tasting room and you can expect a range of flavors and styles that most breweries don’t reach for several years. Swamp Head has already veered from traditional styles with releases like a chipotle-infused pale ale, a Neapolitan beer that touts three layers of flavor and a farmhouse ale called Saison du Swamp.

The man behind the brews is head brewer Craig Birkmaier, a seasoned homebrewer who led Swamp Head to regional fame with an 11-medal sweep at the 2011 Best Florida Beer Championship, announced in Tampa last April, and national fame with a spot on Beer Advocate’s top beer lists.

Birkmaier knows his hops. He now oversees two other brewers as the team works to produce the beers that bring crowds to the brewery’s small warehouse near I-75. According to Birkmaier, finding success in brewing boils down to two main pieces: process and art.

“Part of being a good brewer is getting the process down and having control over all that stuff so you can repeat it again and again,” Birkmaier says. “Art is the recipe design and how you tweak things to make them taste good.”

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Even after living in Boulder and Atlanta, Kemper always knew he’d end up back in Gainesville. With so much history here, he says, it just felt right. Propelled by his desire to bring craft beer to Florida after experiencing the thriving beer community in Colorado, Kemper met up with longtime family friend Birkmaier to talk business in 2008.

Birkmaier, whose first career was in TV production, started homebrewing in 2002 after traveling and developing a taste for the beers found throughout Europe and America. By the time he teamed up with Kemper, he was already recognized around Florida for his award-winning recipes.

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The inventory of listings on the market was down to 1,733, or 24.7 percent, from 2,303 last year. The numbers demonstrate a shift in the local real estate market from a buyers’ market to a sellers’ market because there are fewer homes on the market and more people buying.

2 College Brothers began in South Florida in November of 2010 as a moving company offering professional moving services. The company expanded its services to Gainesville in July of 2011, where the brothers quickly found that college towns are the company’s niche.

Realizing that summer is when movers are in highest demand, Miami natives and owners Kevin and Bryan Weschler traveled to both cities to interview and hire operations managers who will in turn hire up to 25 movers for each new branch.

2 College Brothers expects to employ between 100 and 150 student movers by this summer.

The Innovation Gainesville Angel Network (iGAN) will create opportunities for local investors to directly fund companies that sprout up from licensed UF technology. The network will help create connections between local investors and the local startup companies that need access to resources in order to grow.

Working with the Florida Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research, iGAN will aid member investors in choosing which new technology startups in the Gainesville area are ready for mentoring or investment and are a good match for the investor. Networking events will serve as a way for startups to show off their new technologies and allow for investors to discuss the new companies.

iGAN will begin by focusing on innovation industries like software, electronics, medical devices, Internet applications, advanced materials, manufacturing, biotechnology and life sciences. See innovationgainesville.com/igan for more.

Also in March, Innovation Square received the 2012 Donald E. Hunter Excellence in Economic Development Planning Award from the Economic Development Division of the American Planning Association (APA).

Great salespeople smile. You may not realize this, but a simple smile acts as an attractor. Smiling immediately warms up the environment, and since smiling creates an involuntary reflex, it forces sales prospects and customers to smile too.

Great salespeople always seem to have a “can do” attitude. They don’t recognize the words “can’t” or “impossible.” Whenever they are challenged, they always figure out a way to get the job done, especially if it involves one of their customers.

They’re good listeners. They always pay close attention to their sales prospects and customers. Their eyes are like laser beams and are not easily distracted when talking with their customers.

They ask good questions. They prefer to ask open-ended questions because these questions are the best to get their prospects and customers talking.

Great salespeople are always focused on solving problems, not just making a sale. The key to making more sales is solving more problems for their prospects and customers.

They never talk too much. Talking too much often puts the brakes on building rapport and credibility. The best substitute for talking too much is asking questions and listening. Attentive listening usually means taking notes.

Great salespeople are slow to commit and quick to deliver. They seldom overpromise, which gives them the opportunity to exceed customer expectations. Overpromising is one of the quickest ways to underwhelm sales prospects and customers.

Great salespeople are always on time, which means they arrive early for all appointments. Look at it this way: Being on time means being late.

They are always enthusiastic. They love their work and are passionate about their products and services. Positive energy can be felt whenever they walk into a room. This is not something people are born with. If enthusiasm doesn’t come naturally, fake it. It’s important to becoming a great salesperson.

Great salespeople are extremely goal-oriented. They always have written objectives for every sales call. They don’t make routine sales calls because they know it’s simply a waste of valuable time.

They treat their sales prospects and customers the way they want to be treated. If the Golden Rule says you should treat people the way you want to be treated, then the “Platinum Rule” says you should treat people the way they want to be treated.

Great salespeople are grateful. They appreciate their customers’ business and will often voice their gratitude. They also appreciate the help they get from their own staff.

While the difference between good salespeople and great salespeople is not so big, there is still a difference. With a little effort, you too can become a great salesperson.

Jim Meisenheimer lives in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, and is a sales training consultant who has worked with more than 500 clients over the last two decades. He publishes the Start Selling More Newsletter (startsellingmore.com), which provides common sense sales tips and selling strategies based on practical ideas that get immediate results.

The Cade Museum Foundation will award the $50,000 grand prize to the winning candidate for a product or service with practical application on May 11.

Click here to read more about the finalists.

Here is more information about each judge:

Edward Currie is the co-founder of PC Magazine, the largest circulation magazine on the personal computer. He is the founder of many start-ups, and is currently chief information officer at Tritium Technologies, where he has developed complex planning and modeling systems for the financial services industry.

A physicist and engineer, he is the author of several textbooks on computer chips, statistical thermophysics and entrepreneurship for engineers. Currie has pending and issued patents in the realms of biometrics, database technology, encryption and telecommunications.

Currie has worked on numerous military and civilian projects in the areas of covert illuminators, color night vision, thermal and infrared weapons sights, underwater laser communications systems, optical character recognition, cardiac monitoring and analysis systems and biometric systems, including iris recognition, fingerprint and facial recognition.

Suren G. Dutia is the Senior Fellow of the Kauffman Foundation and Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Washington University in St. Louis. Previously, Dutia served as the chief executive officer of TiE Global, one of the largest non-profit organizations involved in fostering entrepreneurship globally.

As an angel investor, Dutia has invested in a number of business ventures and is currently serving on the Board of Directors of three entrepreneurial ventures. He served as president and CEO of Xscribe Corporation, a publicly traded company in San Diego, and worked as president of a Boston-based medical instruments company.

James Ehrlich is a clinical associate professor at the University of Colorado, Denver (endocrinology) and an adjunct assistant professor in the department of medicine at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He is currently the senior medical advisor for Cardionexus (Houston), an affiliate of Panasonic Healthcare, as well as the chief medical officer of United Cardio Systems.

Ehrlich is the medical director of Early Detection Technologies, LLC, which advises on best practices involving biomarkers, imaging technologies and radiation protection. He founded and became the medical director of Colorado Heart and Body Imaging in Denver.

A co-author of The Physician’s Guide to Coronary Imaging, he is now authoring a preventive medicine guide for the proactive consumer as well as a novel that forms the basis for a medical detective television drama concept.

Find out more about the semi-finalists here.

Cade museum: http://www.cademuseum.org/

This was the advice that Gina Bianchini said that she would give to a younger version of herself in an interview with The Levo League, an online community for Gen Y women in the workplace.

Bianchini is the founder of Ning, a free do-it-yourself platform for social networks, and a new site called Mightybell.

Her advice resonated with me. Here was a women who, at 40, had already been on the cover of Fast Company and been featured in Fortune’s “40 under 40.” She left her job as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs to work at a start-up—a pretty brazen move. If someone had told me about the ideas that led to her success in the male-dominated Silicon Valley, I’d probably be left scratching my head. In other words, she’s an entrepreneur who’s succeeded at the unexpected. She went for it.

Now, Gainesville is on the verge of becoming “the Silicon Valley of the Southeast.” In working on this month’s cover story, I found out why.

You might have heard of a project called Innovation Gainesville. Well, it seems to be gaining major traction. It’s most recent success? Innovation Gainesville was a key player in attracting a major international company to Gainesville, and I’m confident this is the beginning of Innovation Gainesville’s major positive impacts on the community—and its ability to help plug the “brain drain.”

“Innovation” can be a nebulous concept at best, and efforts to be innovative can be a waste of time at their worst. But the leaders of Innovation Gainesville went for it—and they won.

This spirit of hope and ambition is what attracted this month’s “Someone You Should Know,” Lou Heckler, to live here. Of Gainesville, he remarks, “It’s a place where people are always hoping and planning and innovating and studying for something better.”

What a great point.

This month, I’m going to keep Lou’s words in mind. As they say, nothing ever happens if you don’t show up. The timing will likely never be perfect. The business plan might not be complete. And you’ll definitely never have enough time or money. Despite this, let’s just go for it.

As I write this, I am preparing to host the first night of fashion shows for the fifth season of Gainesville Fashion Week. While this might normally be a stretch for my comfort zone, I’ve embraced the opportunity.

Four years ago, the producers decided to introduce a weeklong series of events dedicated to fashion, art and beauty in a town known primarily for Gator sports. Well, it seems our horizons have been broadened. They certainly went for it—and I will too.